A battery pack is formed by aggregating a plurality of cells by serial connections and/or parallel connections. The battery pack is usually fabricated with a pack structure including a cell assembly in which a plurality of cells are stacked in one direction, a plurality of ICBs electrically connected to cell leads respectively drawn from the cells, and a housing for accommodating the cell assembly.
The battery pack may have an increased output current by increasing the number of cells connected in parallel and may have an increased output voltage by increasing the number of cells connected in series. The battery pack is widely used in fields demanding a large output, such as vehicles, bicycles, electric tools and the like.
As the battery pack including a plurality of cells, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, there is proposed a product in which both ends of a battery are supported by an end plate, a lead plate is disposed at a predetermined position of the end plate, and the lead plate is spot-welded to an end electrode of the battery.
Meanwhile, recently, a battery pack assembling technique for electrically connecting cell leads by welding to an ICB is being actively studied.
However, the assembling technique using the welding method as described above has a disadvantage in that it takes a long time to assemble the product due to the welding process. In addition, if a failure occurs after the welding process, the assembled battery modules should be wasted entirely, which causes a large loss.
In addition, the quality of the battery pack is determined depending on the quality of the welding. Also, since the welding process requires welding equipment, there are many restrictions on the working place for assembling the battery pack, and it is impossible to perform the assembly operation except for a designated place.